Food Additives Linked to Child Aggression

I have had personal experience of a ‘Mr Hyde incident’ with my son when he was younger. He was offered a large bottle of Fanta (by a well-meaning family member) which he drank in one swig and which subsequently turned him into a kicking, screaming emotional wreck for over an hour. Orange food colouring is especially nasty.

This recent Australian newspaper article recently went to print. It’s not news to me, but you may find it revealing.

Here’s the article:

Food Additives Linked to Child Aggression

“Popular food additives, preservatives and colours make children aggressive and disruptive, a ground-breaking experiment has found. A New South Wales school that went additive-free for two weeks reported significant behaviour changes in students.

Sue Dengate, who runs the Food Intolerance Network and organised the project at Palmers Island Primary School, said the results were surprising. “It was amazing. The children were more co-operative, the siblings stopped fighting and there were more harmonious families,” Ms Dengate said.

Principal Andrew Bennett said that the changes became obvious in three or four days.

“We found difficult children created much less of a disturbance,” Mr Bennett said. The school provided additive-free breakfasts for the children and gave parents booklets containing suggestions for lunch and dinners.

Evidence is mounting internationally about the effects of a dangerous cocktail of chemicals fed to children daily.

‘What’s in this Stuff?’, by Pat Thomas, reports that more than 10,000 chemicals are added to food these day. The average American consumes 2.4kg of additives a year – and nutritionists say Australia is not far behind.

Even supposedly healthy food such as bread, butter and dried fruit are now understood to cause aggression, hyperactivity and depression in children.

A new Nutrition Australia report notes children in daycare who eat highly processed food are more likely to injure others in the playground, according to the staff who care for them.

And staff also find children who come to daycare on an empty stomach are more likely to be their victims.

“Staff identified that children with poorer food choices … were more likely to be the children who were impulsive and display behaviours which could cause injury to other children,” Nutrition Australia spokeswoman Aloysa Hourigan said.

This included children who regularly ate foods with preservatives, additives and colours.”Posted by Kurma on 8/4/07; 11:08:13 AM